Complex Networks: Traffic Monitoring and Simulation

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS’s) hold the promise of relieving traffic congestion at significantly less expense than new roadway construction. However, the deployment of ITS’s is limited both by acquisition and deployment costs of sensors and the ability to effectively analyze sensor data.

To mitigate these obstacles, CISR is developing a mobile ITS solution. The portable system is capable of temporary installation without the need for expensive installation procedures such as excavation. Data is transmitted using wireless communication. The system can be set up in an area, collect the data needed to reduce congestion, and then be redeployed in other areas where needed.

Heterogeneous sensor technology, strategically deployed throughout the area of interest, gathers the voluminous quantity of data needed to generate effective congestion relief solutions. CISR’s traffic monitoring solution processes, reduces, and presents this data in a number of formats that are immediately useable by traffic engineers.

Our research includes the use of this data to conduct traffic optimization with microscopic simulation and optimization packages such as CORSIM, Synchro, and SimTraffic. The simulation packages allow the exploration of hypothetical application of a variety traffic flow management techniques. By exploring the solution space through simulation, effective heterogeneous approaches can be applied to this optimization problem.